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Etymology

The actual name of Gingee is 'Sengiri' meaning perhaps the "Red Hill" in Tamil that has got corrupted into Gingee. Some say that the name Sengiri originated from 'Sanjeevi' the hill mentioned in Ramayana from where Hanuman got the life saving herb, the Sanjeevini Booti for Lakshmana when he was lying unconscious during the war between Rama and Ravana. The Sanjeevi herb is the panacea of Indian mythology. It has been explained as the combination of two roots, Sam (pleasure) and Ji (life). The name has also been traced to Singavaram the neighbouring Vaishnavite shrine, whose lord is considered the guardian deity of the place.

The local tradition has another explanation to offer. The legend runs that seven virgin sisters once lived here and one of them was known as Senjiamman. Their modesty was threatened with the possibility of violation of their chastity. Even though a valiant man named Thadikara Virappan rescued them from danger, they could not survive the insult and so committed suicide. Their spirits are even now believed to be haunting the place and considered the geniiloci. Each of the sisters has got her own little shrine still existing and attracts votaries from the neighbourhood. It is very probable that Senjiamman who is worshipped on top of one of the hills gave her name to the particular hill and this afterwards came to be the common designation of the whole circle of hills and villages below.

Another of the sisters, Kamalakanniamman, has a shrine dedicated to her at the base of Rajgiri, which, on certain days in the year attracts a great number of worshippers. This hill was originally known after the goddess as Kamalagiri. Gingee also had an earlier name known as Krishnapura. This name was possibly given to it by its first ruling dynasty that were of shepherd class and whose tutelary deity was Lord Krishna. However, it is possible that it might have received the name from its powerful ruler, Krishnappa Nayak.

History

Originally the site of a small fort built by the Chola dynasty in 9th century AD, it was later modified by Kurumbar while fighting the Chola and again by the Vijayanagar empire in the 13th century to elevate it to the status of an unbreachable citadel to protect the small town of Gingee. It was also the head quarters of the Gingee Nayaks, during the Nayaka domination in Tamil Nadu. The fort was built as a strategic place of fending off any invading armies. The fort was further strengthened by the Marathas under the leadership of Shivaji in 1677 AD, who recaptured it from the Bijapur sultans who had originally taken control of the fort from the Marathas. During Aurangzeb's campaign in the Deccan, Shivaji's second son who had assumed the throne,Chhatrapati Rajaram escaped to Ginjee in the distant South and continued the fight with Moghuls from Ginjee. The Moghuls could not capture the fort for seven years in spite of laying siege. The fort was finally captured in 1698, but not before Chhatrapati Rajaram escaped. It was later passed on to the Carnatic Nawabs who lost it to the French in 1750 before the British finally took control in 1761 despite losing it to Hyder Ali for a brief period. Raja Desinghu ruled Chenji an he was one of the famous kings to be known when it came to Chenji. He also worshipped Singavaram Sri Ranganatha Temple located in between Chenji and Melmalayanur. The temple is full of rock sculptures.

The BijapurNawabs who held the fort from about 1660-77 AD called it Badshabad, while the Marathas who succeeded them called it Chandry or Chindy. The Mughals, on their capture of the fort in 1698 A.D. named it Nasrat Gaddah in honour of Nawab Zulfiquar Khan Nasrat Jang, the commander-in-chief of the besieging army. Later, the English and the French called it Gingee or Jinji. The early Madras records of the English give the spelling Chingee or Chengey.

The chief source for the first two hundred years of the history of the place is the "Complete History of the Carnatic Kings" among the Mackenzie manuscripts. One Narayan, who claimed to be a descendant of the Ananda Kon Clan of Gingee, compiled it, after a consultation with numerous authorities, both Hindu and Muhammadan. According to Narayan, Gingee became a fortified place only about 1200 AD. Ananda Kon of the shepherd community, accidentally found a treasure in one of the cavities of the Western hill while grazing his sheep. Making himself the head of a small band of warriors, he defeated the petty rulers of the neighbouring villages and built a small fortress on Kamalagiri, which he renamed Anandagiri after himself.

The Kon dynasty ruled Gingee from 1190 to 1330 AD, and was succeeded by the chief of a neighbouring place called Kobilingan, who belonged to the kurumba caste and ascended the throne of Gingee. He was a feudatory of the powerful Cholas. This way Gingee came into the hands of various ruling dynasties of South India, starting from the Cholas.

Structure

Kalyana Mahal at Gingee fort.

The fort consists of three hills, connected by walls enclosing an area of 7 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi). It was built at a height of 800 feet (240 m), and protected by a 80 feet (24 m) wide moat. It had an eight-storeyed Kalyana Mahal (marriage hall), granaries, prison cells, a military gymnasium and a temple dedicated to its presiding Hindu goddess called Chenjiamman. The fortifications contain a sacred pond known as Aanaikulam. The walls of the fort are a mixture of the natural hilly terrain comprising the Krishnagiri, Chakkilidrug and Rajagiri hills, while the gaps were sealed with the main wall that measures 20 metres (66 ft) in thickness. It was thus an impressive sight where the defender could seal himself indefinitely.

Legends

Perhaps the most enduring legend in Tamil culture was that of the tragic tale of Raja Tej Singh, popularly known in Tamil as Thesingu Raasan. The true life story of Tej Singh and his general, Mehboob Khan (aka Maavuthukaran), who were friends, has inspired many poems, street plays, and countless other stories. Son of Swarup Singh, he revolted against the Nawab of Arcot, and was defeated and killed in the war that followed. Though Gingee became a part of the Nawab's territory in 1714, the young and courageous Tej Singh became a legend and his life, love and brave but tragic end were eulogised in various ballads.

Three hills, three citadels

The Gingee Fort complex is on three hillocks. In fact all the three hills together constitute a fort complex, yet each hill contains a separate and self-contained fort. The first hill, where the main fort is, is called Rajagiri. Originally it was known as Kamalagiri as well as Anandagiri. The fort here is most impregnable. It is about 800 feet (240 m) in height. Its summit is cut off from communication and is surrounded by a deep, natural chasm that is about 10 yards (9.1 m) wide and 20 yards (18 m) deep. To gain entry into the citadel one had to cross the chasm with the help of a small wooden draw bridge which was drawn only after getting a signal from the sentries on the parapets that a friend was approaching.

The naturally strong rock where the fortress is is further strengthened by the construction of embrasure walls and gateways along all possible shelves and precipitous edges. It forms the principal fortification. Seven gates have to be traversed before reaching the citadel. This citadel contains many important buildings apart from the living quarters of the royalty, like the stables, granaries, and meeting halls for the public, temples, mosques, shrines and pavilions jostling each other.

The lower fort consists of the following important monuments:

Vellore Gate

Pondicherry Gate: probably improved by the French during their occupation (1751-1761).

The Prison on top of Pondicherry Gate.

Royal Battery: probably erected by the French.

Venkataramanaswami Temple: probably built during the Vijay Nagar period. The original tall, graceful monolithic pillars from the temple are said to have been carried away to Pondicherry by the French and to have been fixed around the Place de la République, near the old pier.

Pattabhi Ramaswami Temple: architecturally very important.

Sadatulla Khan’s mosque, contributed by the Nawab of Arcot.

Chettikulam and Chakrakulam tanks.

Platform where Raja Desingh’s (the hero of Gingee who fought gloriously with the Nawab of Arcot and died on the battle field). His body is to have been cremated by the order of the Nawab with full honours and in orthodox Hindu style, while his young Rajput wife committed sati.

A large stone image of Hanuman.

Prisoner’s well where the prisoners condemned to death were thrown and left to die of starvation.

The inner fort consists of the following important buildings:

Kalyana Mahal, perhaps the living quarters of the queens.

The Royal Stables.

The Royal palace that is in ruin. It has two large slabs of polished stones that had served as bathing platforms for Raja Desingh and his Rani.

Gymnasium

Anaikulam tank

Granaries

Magazine

Shrine of Venugopalaswami, where the sculpture of Lord Krishna playing on his flute is accompanied by two female figures. They are supposed to be his two wives, Rukmani and Satyabhama. This is the best piece of sculpture in the place. It is amazing to see that even the top of the fort is well provided with water supply and several wells, sumps and storage tanks are in the fort complex at various levels.

There is a site museum at the entrance of the fort set up by the Archeological Survey of India containing sculptures pertaining to various periods and many dynasties that ruled Gingee. There are also guns and cannon balls made of stone, strewn about the fort.

In order to reach the top one has to undertake a trek for over an hour. School children love to trek to Gingee Fort.

Krishnagiri fort

The second important hillock with an imposing citadel is known as Krishnagiri. It is also known as the English Mountain, perhaps because the British residents occupied the fort here, for some time. The Krishnagiri fort lies to the North of Tiruvannamalai road. It is smaller in size and height compared to the Rajagiri fort. A flight of steps of granite stones leads to its top. Another fort connected with Rajagiri with a low rocky ridge is called Chandrayan Durg, Chandragiri or St. George’s Mountain. The military and strategic value of this fort has been relatively less, but it has some interesting buildings of later period.

The third fort for some reason is called Chakkiliya Durg or Chamar Tikri - meaning the fort of the cobblers. It is not known why it had acquired such a name. Probably the royal saddlers and military shoemakers had set up their workshops here, as Gingee obviously was a military encampment. There is also a smaller and less important fourth hill, the summit of which is also well fortified. There is nothing much-left of Chandrayan Durg and Chakkilli Durg. Their flanks are now completely covered with thorny shrubs and stone pieces. However, they provide challenging trekking opportunity to the visitors to Gingee.

Sri Ranganatha temple

Any account of Gingee should include a description of the rock-cut shrine of Singavaram, situated about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the fortress on a fifth hill called Singavaram hill. It is a unique Vishnu temple. The deity of the shrine is Lord Ranganatha. Lord Ranganatha is seen reclining on the serpent with his head turned to a side. The expression on the face of the Lord is benign and charming. The Gingee Ranganathan is ranked as one of the most beautiful Vishnu idols anywhere. It is interesting to note that the place where the Singavaram rock cut exists seems to have been originally a centre of Jain religion. Several small and large Jain rock cuts and monoliths are found around the temple. Gingee, hence, has emerged as an important surviving link of the Tamil Jain tradition. Singavaram hill is visited both by the Hindu and Jain pilgrims.

According to legend, it is the original image of Ranganatha from the famous Srirangam temple, which was taken away, from Srirangam and hidden in Gingee, for the sake of safety, during the plundering of Srirangam at the hands of the Mohammedan invader Malik Kafur. Lord Ranganatha is said to have been the tutelary Lord of Gingee and the personal deity (Ishta devata) of Raja Desingh. There is an underground tunnel that connects the Rajagiri fortress with the temple and is supposed to have been used by Raja Desingh and his queen to visit the temple unobserved. The existence of the tunnel itself is an indicator of the authenticity of the image. The fact that the idol was hidden among the rocks in a discarded Jain rock cut cave and was being worshipped unobserved by the public is enough proof of the idol being a very ancient and important one.

This tunnel is supposed to actually connect two towns, the great and little Gingee, surrounded by a wall. This wall is three 3 miles (4.8 km)in circumference and encloses the two towns and five mountains of rugged rocks on the summit of which were built five strong forts. The fifth mountain is Singavaram hill - in addition to the four already mentioned forts, namely, Rajagiri, Krishnagiri, Chandrayan Durg and Chakkili Durg. According to E. Scott Waring, Great Gingee referred to the whole area including Singavaram, and little Gingee was very likely to be Gingee proper, i.e., the area covered by four other mountains. There were two separate towns known as Sheo Gingee (Siva Gingee) and Vishnu Gingee (Vishnu Gingee - the latter being regarded by him as a popular and flourishing town) surrounded by walls of considerable circumference. The court of Sheo Gingee was formed into a citadel with basements and battlements and consequently thinly inhabited; Vishnu Gingee was flourishing and the resort of a large number of pilgrims, hence it can with great probability be identified with Singavaram. A visit to Gingee would be incomplete without a visit to Singavaram to see the reclining Vishnu and the Jain rock cuts.

Current condition

After the fort passed into British hands, it did not see any further action. The fort at Gingee was declared a National Monument in 1921 and was under the Archeological Department. Recently, the Tourism Department of India has tried to popularise this remote and oft-forgotten fort. Gingee today, with its ruined forts, temples and granaries, presents a different picture from the glorious splendor of its bygone days. But the remains of that glorious past speak volumes about the numerous invasions, warfare and bravery that it witnessed. The fort is well maintained by the Archeological Department, the surrounding looks clean and good, and it's a must-visit place in Tamil Nadu.